Ancient Coin Stories

The image of Athena Parthenos is replicated on a great many coins, but I wanted one from Athens itself.

Imhoof-Blumer and Gardner mention that the literature on this statue is so extensive as to be impossible to summarize, but there were some interesting facets from coins. First, my coin has no prop under the arm, as described in ancient literature, though a few ancient coins do. Second, an animal often appears on the helmet. This is usually a Pegasus, but can be a griffin. The visor of Athena’s helmet is also adorned with four horses. Unfortunately, the details on my coin simply aren’t sharp enough to discern this, though my coin is not listed by Imhoof-Blumer as having these elements, so they were probably never engraved.

Although my coin is missing some details that the actual sculpture evidently had, it’s still otherwise faithful to the original statue and it’s remarkable to think that when it was minted the chryelephantine statue was still in existence.

Unlike some other statues in my collection, the statue to Athena was meant as an offering to Athena and not as a location of religious worship. There was no priest at the temple.

It was erected some time after the Persians destroyed Athens. Initially, the citizens wished to keep many structures as the Persians destroyed them to remind themselves, but as the city became an international power and the treasury was moved from Delos to Athens, that money was used to glorify the city.

Perikles hired Phidias to construct the statue from 447 to 438 BCE. Supposedly during the construction Phidias was accused of stealing some of the gold used for plating and was forced to flee the city.

When the statue was destroyed remains unknown.